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Crazydaz's Square 200G RIPARIUM Stikes back-The End Teaser shots of new set up 7-24

253K views 848 replies 191 participants last post by  leequan 
#1 · (Edited)
Just finished up with the move from old rental property to new home. Life sure has been hectic lately!

So, the Journal starts over, and as much as I hated to tear down the tank from this:


and this:


To THIS:


and this:


.....but it had to be done. To re-set and try to go with the same aesthetic would have been uncreative and boorish. Everything was sold or given away. Many thanks to Tlyons01 who spent a "fun" afternoon tearing the tank down with me. It only took about 7 hours. :D

Prior to that, the outside of the stand/pedestal was removed. It was made of 2x4's: very solid construction, but the outside was made of pressboard. A terrible choice, in retrospect, for obvious reasons. It had been warped and bubbled, and was a total eyesore. So, I stripped it down and threw it out.

Here are a few pics of the new pedestal:




That is red oak stained with walnut with iron hinges and knobs. We're going for more of a "rustic" old-fashioned look for the sitting room, and I thought that this would look nice. Eventually, the pendant above the tank will be redone either in black, or it will be done to match the pedestal. Probably happen in January. In the new design, I added side doors in order to make accessing the equipment in the back easier to do. It has been triple coated in poly on all sides to ensure water resistance, and almost "water proofing."

The day following the drain and dis-assembly, we moved the tank, lighting, and new pedestal to the new house. This was all done within two hours, which was faster than I had anticipated. The move went flawlessly, and I was ready to re-start the scape. So....

IN went custom made Manzanita branches that came from hydrophyte, plain kitty litter (about 30lbs), and that was topped by MTS made by DogFish. The Manzy branches are semi-poseable that will allow me to move the "joints" as needed in order to access equipment with relative ease, or to alter the hardscape as desired. You will notice screws in some of the future pictures; these are the "joints" I refer to....just a simple screw and nut assembly. Hydrophyte did do a marvelous job cutting the ends of the branches into simple fittings through which the screw passes through and is held on the other side by the nut.

DogFish sent six large Flat Rate boxes of MTS to me months ago, and makes about a two inch layer in my tank. Wonderful stuff!:





Sprinkled on the potash, pressed it into the MTS, and then topped that with some of my old tank's substrate. Added the Seriyu stone and the old stone from CraigThor's tank, and now this is how it looked:





Three rock "peninsulas" are featured in this set up for bucephelandra, anubia, and java fern species; the substrate will feature mostly crypts.

More pictures tomorrow!!
 
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#236 ·
Oh, I have keei, Bill, but it is tiny and on the other side of the tank. You may be referring to the Red Metallic or the C. bullosa Bario? I would be happy to give you some or trade you for some. The keei will be ready in a few months.

I cut those flush ends just for you, bro!! Lol!!

Thanks! It's coming along nicely, especially considering the circumstances re: the UV Sterilizer and CO2 issues. Most of your big names have their plants or products displayed in here. But, I bought them and loved them!! ;) I will have to make a list of the people that have made their influence felt in this system. Including you, William!

Octavus--- Thank you!! Many thanks!! The Oak leaves are nice, and provide a nice snack for my shrimp and the Stiphodon species in there. I have Indian Alamond Leaves en route to see if those might be better, but likely it won't matter much. I think it ties the system together fairly well.

Thanks Marioman!! I added the last of the stone this past week. To be honest, I probably should have taken it all out, and re-done the stacking job, but I think that, given time, it should look nicer when the various aroids take hold and start growing and spreading onto the rocks. It's ok for now. If it doesn't , I can always change it later!

Kwheeler---If you can wait until after New Years, I'll be happy to send you some of the various hygros that I have for free. I'll take care of the shipping too. Sound good?
 
#238 ·
duh....i was talking about the Bario. so many plant species going through my head lately that i can't tell the difference between pennywort and penny marshall. LOL

and i was just busting your stones, bud. :) seems like every update, you're thanking yet someone else!!! but really, that just goes to show what a great member base we have here :)
 
#239 ·
Kwheeler-- ok! Send me a reminder after the New Year to remind me, ok? Oh, and I have Colbalt Blues.....at least that's what they're supposed to be. Most are brownish, and one has a slight metallic stripe. But, I hardly see them at all, and when I do, they just kind of "flit" around for a minute or two, and then disappear again. I thought that they were supposed to be fairly gregarious, but not so much I guess.

Bill--- I give credit where credit is due! It's been a lot of fun for me, but I am indebted to quite a few people for selling/trading with me so I can the materials I need for the setup.

I could trade something with you for the Bario. I think that I owe you a buce clipping, too! These are from one plant that I bought from Xue about 8 months ago, if you can believe that!!
 
#240 ·
This is an amazing tank, amazing setup and an amazing addition to a house. Amazing enough? :D

Crazydaz, I saw that you mentioned Excel and crypts - in a "STAY AWAY" sort of manner.

I'm currently dosing excel in my 5G that has nothing but a few crypts right now. Is this pretty much anecdotal science that Excel ruins crypts? I haven't been dosing long enough to really tell (only 2 doses thus far).

Anyways, didn't mean to distract from this great journal!
 
#241 ·
Lol!, thanks STS!! :D

I found that they can tolerate, or at least "become tolerant of" Excel dosing. I have witnessed some leaves melt after the addition of Excel, but nothing serious or long-term. However, Excel was added 1.5 times greater than recommended to treat algae. At normal dosing (1 capful/ 50 gallons), there was no issue. But since I was finally getting nice leaves growing, the last thing I wanted to do was to push my luck and continue using it.

It happens frequently enough where I would suggest that it is more than just "anecdotal," though I am unfamiliar as to why this happens. This is more due to the fact that until recently, I had never used Excel to treat algae issues, and never researched the "why." I can't imagine that aldehydes are good for much of anything, though! ;)

Tell you what: try overdosing with Excel and let me know what happens to those crypts? :D I'm not going to push my luck, though!

Thanks for asking though, and it's not a distraction, STS! Like the interaction and questions! You're always more than welcome to ask anything on the thread!
 
#245 ·
Wow this tank is turning into a beautiful setup and looks better with every new update. The new stones you added made a huge difference. I'm really liking the crypt 'metallic red'. I may have to give that a try some time.

How many Tek light fixtures are you putting over this tank again? You will love them. I have had many different lights and these are very nice. The only t5 fixture that would compare to these are the ATI's but plan on dropping some coin on them and for me I couldn't justify spending double what the Tek's cost just to have a dimming feature(although it would be nice).
 
#247 ·
man Don, i don't even know what i have that i could trade you for a bario....besides my whole mantella tank...lol actually, i am currently waiting on my c. nurii 'pahang' and my c. x purpurea to throw runners. i think you have everything else i have, even c. zukalii...lol but i'm sure we'll come up with something :)
 
#249 ·
Thank you, Devin! You can see what an impact the riparium plants have made in the set up! I feel it truly gives that "river bank" type of quality. They have also increased the humidity levels beneath them, and now I have a nice white fungus growing in places on the LFSphagnum. It's thin....I'm told that as long as it is "white," it's just an indicator of decent humidity levels.

Thank Ua Hua! Yes, I got one last awesome round from CraigThor, and another 25 lbs from PC1....I finally got the proportions to my liking. It was just going to take a while to get so much rock in there, so I just had to keep getting it piecemeal until I was happy with it.

The C. Metallic Red is wonderful!! It is a quick grower for a crypt, spreads easily, and colors up really well. Definitely one of my favorite plants in the tank right now! Let me know after New Year's, and I could probably just send one to you.

I'm putting two 8x54watt fixtures over the tank. I already received them, but I just need to put them up now. It might not happen until after the New Year, but it will happen soon! I would also LOVE a dimming feature, but it just isn't worth the cost of it. The two fixtures will give me a total of 16 bulbs, which should allow me to do a better "dawn and dusk" effect anyhow....it'll be good enough having four sets of four bulbs. I need to get my Red Sun bulbs this week too. That'll give me two red and two purple bulbs to put in, so the dusk effect should look pretty "trippy." :D

Alastair! Thank you kindly, Sir! ;) I'm happy to see it progressing along nicely, even if there have been some minor algae issues along the way. I did a nice water change, did a little OD on the Excel, and increased the CO2 a bit more today as well. The thread algae is already decreasing in amount and in growth rate. I hope that's a positive sign. Never mind that I'll have a TON of leaves to trim off over the coming month or two, but I hope that at some point in the near future, things will be algae-free!!

Bill...It wouldn't have to be "aquatic" necessarily, and it would have to be equivalent in terms of $$'s anyhow. I'm just looking for some neat stuff, is all. Yes, I do have the zukalii too! Maybe something terrestrial or I'd be happy if your purpea throws off a few nice plantlets. Trust me....until Mack gets his stuff, very little of this will be traded or sold. I can afford taking out a few extra Red Metallics or Barios, maybe a few buce cuttings, but there is no rush! I have to make sure that Mack gets what he wants!! ;)

Thank you Obakemono!! That's very kind of you to say...it makes the effort of doing it worthwhile for me, so I appreciate the compliments!! I'm not sure if it is quite there yet, but it has some great potential to exceed the last set up. Sure is nice to look at in those being comfy chairs, though! :hihi:
 
#252 ·
Thanks Chris! The root tabs I used were Devin's GroSoil and GroHumate. Probably will need to order some more of those in January, come to think of it. They are the same ones that I used in my last set up. Osmocote makes a mess, and can create really weird coloration in plants. Cool colors, but weird nonetheless. Like my black limnophilia aromatica. That was interesting!
 
#255 ·
Hey, thanks a bunch Robert! Actually, if you are referring to the Staurogyne, I got a billion stems of it from Anthony, last Monday. That's helped! But the crypt growth is all me!! :)

Christmas lights aren't a bad idea! Lol! I will keep that in mind for next year! Lol!!

Junglefowl--- thank you! You got one of the reasons....yes the leaves release tannins which help keep the water a bit soft....but it really is mainly for keeping the water a bit darker. Just a touch.

Also, when the leaves get water logged and sink, my shrimp seem to enjoy nibbling on them. I just plain old like the appearance of them more than anything. My tank is big enough to not make it look too overdone, and I think that they tie in the upper part of the set up with the lower part of the set up.

Actually, the leaves in the pictures have all been oak leaves, so just one type. I did take them out today because they were probably going to start disintegrating next week, and I will be gone out of town. I did switch to using Indian Almond leaves today. I will post a few pics of it tonight or tomorrow.
 
#259 ·
Hey, thanks Guys! I just rescaped yesterday, moved some things around, and added some Floscopa, a few new crypts, along with two Sagittaria species from AaronT, including a "mystery" one. I got some of my depth back!!

To date, none of the Tillys have flowered....one was in bloom when I got it, but the spike finally is gone now. Several of the Tillys have pups though, and none have died, so I must be doing something well.

I do have an orchid that is beginning to flower, which is cool. And the jewel orchid cutting that I got from Xue is growing pretty well, which is great because, as far as he knew, it wasn't being commercially offered in the States.

Devin, the riparium plants are doing really well. I had to hack them back after New Year's, but they really helped to raise the humidity levels, and keep things in better condition. The Mexican Milkweed flowers prolifically!!!!

Pics later today! Thanks guys!
 
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